Fifteen years after the project was first proposed, state and local officials met in Snow Hill on Tuesday to celebrate the completion of the town’s wastewater treatment plant upgrade.

Town leaders, local politicians and representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture gathered for a ribbon cutting at the $14 million Snow Hill Wastewater Treatment Plant. The plant, which before did not meet required nutrient removal standards, has been upgraded to improve the environment.

The upgraded Snow Hill plant is designed to serve the town’s wastewater needs for the next 20 years. The 500,000 gallon per day plant can accommodate future expansion to handle as much as 667,000 gallons per day.

“This has been a long journey for us,” Snow Hill Mayor Charlie Dorman said. “We finally got here. We’ve now got cleaner water going into the river.”

Snow Hill’s treatment plant, built in 1965, was targeted for improvement by town leaders in the 1990s. Funding wasn’t available, however, until the USDA and the Maryland Department of the Environment got involved. The $14 million upgrade was funded by a $1.3 million USDA Rural Development loan, a $1 million USDA grant, an $8.9 million grant from the Maryland Department of the Environment, a $2.2 million loan from the State Revolving Fund and a $600,000 grant from the Community Development Block Grant Program.

Bill McGowan, state director for USDA Rural Development, said the project was a partnership between several groups.

“We don’t do things for people,” he said, “we work alongside people to make things happen. We’re not a bank. We don’t do it for—we do it with the community.”

Walid Saffouri of the Maryland Department of the Environment said Snow Hill should be proud of the modernized plant, which has actually been up and running since last year. He said the facility was energy efficient and was releasing less pollutants than the old plant had.

Saffouri said that just a year after completion, the plant was already exceeding the goals that had been set for it. Rather than producing 83 percent less nitrogen and 90 percent less phosphorous, it’s producing 90 percent less nitrogen and 95 percent less phosphorous, he said.

“Excessive amounts of nitrogen lower the oxygen level needed to support aquatic life,” he said.

Saffouri said 35 of the 67 wastewater treatment plants in Maryland targeted for improvements had now been upgraded.

Maryland Rural Water Association and the State of Maryland named Snow Hill’s Wastewater Treatment Plant the Wastewater System of the Year in May.